


The Sweater Curse in Reverse

by Blueyedgurl



Series: Reylo holidays [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Christmas Crack, Christmas Presents, Crochet, F/M, Misunderstandings, Ugly Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyedgurl/pseuds/Blueyedgurl
Summary: @reylo_prompts Rey and Ben are roommates.  He stresses a bit when Rey starts acting strange, she gives him intense looks while she's crocheting at night and gives him lingering hugs when she comes home to dinner made.  Ben fears the worst but soon finds out his roommate is up to something.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Reylo holidays [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049108
Comments: 7
Kudos: 70
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts), Reylodazzle





	The Sweater Curse in Reverse

Ben had been Rey’s roommate for almost a year. It worked out well, she was always on time with her half of the rent, didn’t eat his groceries without asking, and didn’t come home loud, drunk, and horny at 2 am. Although, he supposed he could make an exception for the last part if it were directed towards him. Not that he’d ever tell her that. He liked their little arrangement and was worried that expressing interest in her would ruin it. 

He dated some but it was more to say that he did than because he had in interest. His social life was abysmal before Rey, he liked her friends enough that he actually found himself out on a Friday or Saturday night. He had to admit that a life without her in it would be bleak, so he kept his feelings to himself.

Their little life wasn’t overly exciting, evenings and weekends in consisted of movies, or him playing video games while Rey sat on the couch with a book or a ball of yarn and a hook. Lately when she was crocheting, he’d catch her staring at him rather intently and to be honest, it kind of weirded him out. 

The first few times he ignored it. After all, he had noticed over the past year that Rey would sometimes just stare into space. But this past week he had caught her no less than 5 times. Then there was the weird hug she gave him the other day. Rey was a hugger, Ben was not, not unless that hug included Rey. But her hug the other day when she came home to dinner already cooked and waiting lingered. Her hands drifted over his broad back and she seemed to cup his biceps before going to grab plate and sit at the table.

He was beginning to think something was up, was she leaving? They just re-signed their lease, they had celebratory pizza over it last week. Was she sick? Aside from the looks and the weird hug she hadn’t been acting different. He also didn’t remember her saying anything about going to the doctor lately.

He was really starting to worry, especially as she sat on the couch counting stiches then staring at him as if he was a puzzle to solve. Truth was he was beginning to lose sleep over it. Plagued over the idea that something was wrong. 

It was a slippery slope to a bad attitude for him. The following week was spent worrying over what was going on with Rey and not sleeping, it in turn led to him become the world’s biggest asshole at work, he became a mope at home that avoided his roommate, and he looked like he had been hit by a bus. His hair was a mess, his clothes were rumpled, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

After several days of this Rey stopped him before he headed out the door to work.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked him, her face twisted in concern. 

“Yeah, fine.” He mumbled on his way out the door, how could she ask him that when there was clearly something going on with herself.

That was the thing with Rey. She was always giving, always concerned about others. He wished that she would let others care about her in the same way. Mainly himself, but that was besides the point.

After the team’s weekly meeting at work Poe pulled him aside.

“Want to tell me what’s going on with you?” Ben pushed out a sigh and raked his hand through his hair.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.” Poe said with a snort.

Ben chewed on the inside of his cheek before continuing. 

“Has Rey said anything to you?” Poe looked at him with eager interest.

“No, why?” He asked, Ben thought that maybe since Poe had introduced Ben and Rey maybe she had confided in him about what was bothering her. 

“Nothing.”

“Has something happened?”

“No, she’s just acting weird.” Ben said with a scowl.

“Have you tried talking to her about it.”

“No.” Ben said with a huff.

“Look, emotional constipation aside, you are grown man with a big mouth and a quality education. Maybe you should put those good words to use and talk to her, instead of assuming something is wrong just so you can stew and brood about it.”

Ben sighed wearily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired, Poe was right, and he hated it just a little bit. 

That night Ben went home exhausted with his tail tucked between his legs, mulling over how he was going to broach the subject with Rey.

When he got there, he opened the door to the apartment and was greeted by it being fully decorated for Christmas.

“What’s this?” Ben asked looking at the collection of lights and decorations, she had even put a tree up in the little alcove they used as a reading nook. 

“A little surprise, you seemed like you were having a rough week. So, since I had some vacation time to use, I decided to take the day off and surprise you.” 

“But…” His shoulders dropped and it was moments like this where his crush on Rey felt like something more, something like love should feel. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from welling up or confessing too much. 

“You didn’t have, too. I know things have been weird between us lately.” Ben told her and she tilted her head and her nose scrunched. “How did to manage all of this when you’ve been having such a hard time?” He gestured, feeling sad at his own ineptitude to do the same thing. 

“A hard time?” Rey parroted back.

“Yes. You’ve been acting weird and I thought something was wrong.” Ben told her simply, he was rather distracted by the festive apartment, too tired to hold back his concerns.

“What do you mean acting weird?”

“You keep staring at me, like you’re lost in thought. Or the other day when you hugged me you lingered…” He her brow was pulled down in a bit of a scowl. “I thought you were sick, or you were going to change your mind about staying.” He couldn’t help the note of panic creeping in at the edge of his voice.

“What? No!” She shot him an indulgent smile and shook her head. “Silly boy.” She said teasingly and his chest felt lighter for just a moment. “I was making you something.” She said turning to walk toward the tree to pull a nicely wrapped box out from under it.

“What?” He was confused, none of the things he had seen were big enough to be a blanket and seemed too odd of a pattern to be clothing.

She set the box on the counter and stood next to him. 

“Open it.”

“It’s not even Christmas.” Ben tried to push off. He had gotten Rey something too, but it wasn’t wrapped yet.

“Just open it.” She said bumping him with her shoulder. 

He tore open the white and red wrappings and Rey was very careful to take the bow and stick it on top of his head. 

He opened the box to find, what, he couldn’t say. Whatever it was it had sleeves and was like a robe. He looked at Rey with a question in his eyes and he could tell that she was holding back a laugh. He pulled the robe all the way out of the box to find that there were other parts as well. He put on the robe piece and finally understood why she had lingered in her hug. It was a snug fit, but it did fit.

“Oh good, maybe it’ll fit better without your work clothes.” She said her voice strained. He pulled the other items out of the box, one was a turtleneck, or what he thought was a turtleneck, but it was obviously too short in the torso, he was certain it wouldn’t even cover his belly button. The other thing was matching crocheted underwear, with some strange bobbled textured that he wasn’t sure what to think of it. A hat, that looked like it’d be more like a beanie and a strange purse that was unlikely to hold anything.

“Uhm… Thank you?” He really didn’t know how to respond but Rey burst into a fit of giggles. He just stared at her. Maybe she was having a really hard time because he was pretty certain that she had just lost her mind. 

She was laughing so hard she was doubled over and crying. 

“I don’t think I get it.” Ben said, utterly confused. 

“You can laugh it’s supposed to be funny.” She told him through snorts of laughter.

“But you worked for hours on this.” He was still confused, she put in all this time and effort into a gag gift for him.

“I just wanted you to laugh and maybe I did want to see you try it on a little.” She said teasingly with a bite to her lip and he knew he was in trouble when he was willing to make a total fool of himself for this woman. 

“You’re on Niima.” Ben said with more confidence than he truly felt. If it made her laugh it was worth it even though he knew he’d be embarrassed by it. 

He took the items into his room and put on the specially made garments. The material was soft, which meant she didn’t use the cheap yarn she typically used, although she hated it and to his amazement everything fit. He looked at himself in the mirror, the brown and yellow textured underwear with the turtleneck halter top, covered with what was honestly a nice, if not a bit ugly robe. The stitches on the halter were open and left little to the imagination, but he worked out and was proud of his body, so it wasn’t a problem. 

After making sure he wasn’t falling out of the caveman-like undies and feeling put together he was ready for his debut. He took a fortifying breath, prayed that she didn’t have her camera rolling and strode out of his bedroom. 

Rey gave him a surprised and wide-eyed look when he stepped back into the kitchen, to his relief her phone was not in hand. She clapped her hands excitedly bouncing around the kitchen before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. 

“It’s perfect Ben!” She said snuggling in as he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her breath brush against his skin through the pattern of the top and his breath hitched as his nipples hardened and he angled his hips away. 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying this.” He huffed out, unable to ignore the soft scent of her shampoo. 

She tilted her head up, her chin pressing into his sternum. Her face went from laughing to serious, but she didn’t move.

“What?” He said looking up, his eyes catching on the mistletoe. He looked back down at her and noticed that she was serious but didn’t move and he felt bold enough in that moment to take the risk. He bent down and kissed her on the mouth and instead of pushing him away, like he half expected, she just held him tighter and kissed him back. 

He deepened the kiss when he realized that she was actively kissing him, her hands moving to his hair and for a moment it was perfect bliss. He pulled back his hands cradling her head to keep her from running away. 

“Sorry.” He said softly and she bit her shyly bit her lip and shook her head. 

“No. I liked it.” She said, her eyes glittering with excitement. 

“Good.” He said before kissing her again. 

Their first Christmas as roommates turned into their first Christmas as a couple and it was one of Ben’s favorite memories. After that anytime Rey was sad, he’d put on the outfit she made him, and she would laugh and open up about what was bothering her. He wore the robe regularly, enough that Rey had to make some repairs to the stitches.

She never made him anything quite as _intense_ as that again, but she did make him the occasional hat or sweater. Rey liked to joke that the sweater curse worked in reverse for them, much to the delight of her craft group. Ben thought it was the best present he ever opened.


End file.
